In Australia there are two major political parties, called
"Liberals" and "Labour". The "Liberals" are currently in power.
The peer elected leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives
is called the "Prime Minister". Australia's constitution requires
parliament to recommend whom the Queen should appoint as "Governor General",
a position somewhat like an emasculated President. Australia's constitution
also requires that parliament appoint the Justices of the High Court, which
is the court of final appeal.

Prime Minister Howard recently recommended appointment
of Bishop Hollywood (or somesuch) of Brisbane as Governor General (GG).
There is an accusation that while a Bishop the GG appointed an accused
pederast to investigate charges against another cleric who was accused
of pederasty. Based on that charge, Labour party members have called
for the GG to "stand aside" or resign.

On the other hand, more than a decade past a Labour government
appointed admitted homosexual and refreshingly erudite Michael Kirby as
a Justice to the High Court of Australia.

Last week a member of the government in the Senate charged
(under Parliamentary privilege) that Justice Kirby has "trawled" the "wall".
The good senator has apparently obtained statutory declarations from an
alleged Kirby client who claimed that he was under the age of consent when
he was trawled by Justice Kirby. He had also obtained an alleged
record of use of a Government chauffeured car, that showed it had been
used by J.Kirby to trawl the wall.

Of course the whole thing is politics. By discrediting
the GG, the PM is discredited. By discrediting Kirby, the Labour
party is discredited.

However, for the people of Australia, the situations have
worrying similarities. Those who found it wrong for the Bishop to
appoint an accused (but unconvicted) pederast to judge others accused of
pederasty should in all fairness be equally concerned that the people's
appointee to the High Court, while accused but unconvicted of pederasty,
might sit in judgment on pederasts.

It has nothing to do with Homophobia,
and everything to do with fairness.

On the 19th March the good senator learned that the record
of use of the government car was forged. To his credit, he unreservedly
withdrew his allegations. To those who followed the incident, the
institution of Parliamentary privilege has functioned perfectly.